{"id":29431,"date":"2026-06-03T07:26:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/29431\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T07:26:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:26:23","slug":"atlanta-stadium-execs-spent-600k-in-tax-dollars-on-world-cup-vip-seats-while-fretting-over-crazy-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/29431\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta stadium execs spent $600K in tax dollars on World Cup VIP seats while fretting over ‘crazy’ prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Executives at the taxpayer-backed agency\u00a0that owns\u00a0Atlanta\u2019s Mercedes-Benz Stadium secretly blew\u00a0over $600,000 on VIP World Cup\u00a0<\/a>seats \u2014 even as they fretted that ticket prices were \u201ccrazy\u201d and \u201cnot the most prudent use of public funds,\u201d The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

As regular soccer fans\u00a0get\u00a0frozen out by FIFA\u2019s sky-high dynamic pricing<\/a>, executives at the Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) used an exclusive backchannel to land a sweetheart deal for a luxury suite and 270 premium World Cup seats to entertain clients at the home of the NFL\u2019s Atlanta Falcons, according to internal emails.<\/p>\n

President Trump, seen here receiving the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize from FIFA boss Gianni Infantino last December, told The Post three weeks ago he would be \u201cdisappointed\u201d if ordinary Americans could not afford to attend the games. AP<\/p>\n

Behind closed doors, the GWCCA\u2019s top brass knew the optics were terrible, according\u00a0to the emails obtained through a public records request.<\/p>\n

In January 2025, chief commercial officer\u00a0Joe Bocherer issued a red flag, warning colleagues against dropping $442,750 on a 22-seat all-inclusive suite after executives learned their regular VIP memberships did not include World Cup games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are starting to believe a suite at this time is not the most prudent use of public funds,\u201d he wrote in an email, predicting the boxes \u201cwill get cheaper as we get closer\u201d in an apparent dig at FIFA\u2019s prices.<\/p>\n

Bocherer went on to note that a cheaper alternative\u00a0would come\u00a0out at $21,000 per seat compared to the $37,000 per seat in the VIP box \u2014 although he nevertheless expressed disbelief at the stratospheric prices, according to one emailed breakdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow.. this is still crazy,\u201d Bocherer wrote of the $21,000 seats.<\/p>\n

GWCCA chief commercial officer Joe Bocherer warned against spending so much money on a VIP box \u2013 and took a swing at FIFA\u2019s pricing strategy. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n

The Mercedes-Benz Stadium is welcoming as many as eight World Cup games during the month-long tournament that the US is jointly hosting with Canada and Mexico. AP<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, by March of last year, the bosses agreed to split an $885,500 suite tab 50\/50 with the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, a nonprofit that promotes the city worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cPer direction (of) our board, the desire is for GWCCA to stay within a $3-400k-ish expense for FIFA 2026,\u201d Bocherer said in a later message on March 3, 2025.<\/p>\n

Joe Bocherer, the GWCCA\u2019s chief commercial officer, warned against spending nearly half a million dollars on a VIP box. GWCCA<\/p>\n

The emails obtained by The Post fail to spell out a reason for the change of heart, and a GWCCA spokeswoman declined to comment when asked.<\/p>\n

The revelations come just over three weeks after President Trump told The Post exclusively<\/a> that regular Joes are being unfairly locked out of the global tournament\u00a0that is being\u00a0hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have an agreement or a contract for the FIFA suite,\u201d Pargen Robertson, the chief legal officer at the Atlanta-based agency, told The Post in an e-mail exchange without elaborating.<\/p>\n

A GWCCA spokeswoman confirmed that bosses had still gone ahead and paid up, claiming the entertainment of VIPs in the exclusive box would help with \u201cattracting future conventions, trade shows, events, and tourism business.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Georgia Bulldogs, the reigning SEC champions, have also played major games at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Getty Images<\/p>\n

But the suits did not stop there \u2014 returning in February to exploit their ties to the World Cup host committee to score another 270 premium seats across the eight games to be played in Atlanta for $170,000, invoices show.<\/p>\n

That second haul, personally signed off by CEO Kevin Duvall, included\u00a0blowing\u00a0$70,000 on just 36 tickets for a blockbuster semifinal match that amounts to an average of $1,944 per seat.<\/p>\n

Premium tickets for that same July 15 game currently costs $10,000, according to a Post analysis of FIFA\u2019s official resale platform. Resellers such as Ticketmaster offer similar lower-bowl seats close to the pitch for just over $8,200.<\/p>\n

An invoice shows how GWCCA bosses came back to scoop up more tickets later this year as regular fans slug it out in the resale market. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n

The Post has filed a series of freedom-of-information\u00a0requests with 11 US host cities and the US government about the World Cup ticketing fiasco. Georgia officials, who are required to respond to such requests within three business days, were the first to provide documents.<\/p>\n

The released emails show how FIFA gives top officials and business executives the red-carpet treatment. The global soccer body, a Swiss non-profit based in Zurich, has often granted exclusive allotments to reward the local insiders who deliver the stadiums, security, and hype.<\/p>\n

Georgia record custodians said they were unable to provide a list of the VIPs set to benefit from the allocation despite repeated requests by The Post.<\/p>\n

The Mercedes-Benz Stadium is the home of the NFL outfit Atlanta Falcons, where cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr. has been plying his trade after being selected in the 2020 NFL Draft. Getty Images<\/p>\n

An agency spokeswoman said the swanky seats would be used \u201cto engage current and prospective customers, strengthen relationships, and support efforts to attract future events and business to the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rep did not answer this outlet\u2019s questions about how the seats were distributed or directly address the total amount spent by its top brass.<\/p>\n

She described the GWCCA as \u201ca self-sustaining state authority,\u201d adding the tournament is \u201ca once-in-a-generation opportunity\u201d that can help boost business for the state of Georgia.<\/p>\n

That reality is more complex, according to its latest 2025 financial report. <\/p>\n

MLS franchise Atlanta United also plays its home games at the GWCCA-owned Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The budget shows a one-off allocation of just over $25 million in taxpayer money on its books, specifically earmarked for the World Cup, while raking in more than $10 million in hotel and motel taxes from tourist properties it operates.<\/p>\n

The GWCCA also gets rent-free access to state-owned venues such as the Georgia World Congress Center and the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It is asking for $72 million from taxpayers in 2027 for maintenance work, according to documents posted by the Governor\u2019s Office of Planning and Budget.<\/p>\n

Aside from being the home of the Atlanta Falcons, the sporting arena also hosts games involving Major League Soccer outfit Atlanta United and the Georgia Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

The World Cup ticket furor has exploded into outright scandal in recent weeks, with President Trump exclusively telling The Post that even he would not pay the $1,000 resale prices for the USMNT\u2019s opener against Paraguay on June 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not know that number,\u201d the billionaire real estate mogul said. \u201cI would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn\u2019t pay it either, to be honest with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A FIFA spokesman told The Post the governing body is \u201cfocused on ensuring fair access\u201d and offered 1,000 tickets at just\u00a0$60 for every group game that\u00a0he called \u201ca very competitive price point for a major global sporting event in the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

GWCCA CEO Kevin Duvall was dialed in on the VIP ticket grab over the course of several months GWCCA<\/p>\n

The organization also defended its \u201cdynamic pricing\u201d and resale model as standard practice for big US sports events.<\/p>\n

But foreign fans are boycotting in droves anyway, furious over the sky-high prices. The backlash threatens to torpedo the $40 billion economic windfall US host cities were banking on, according to an industry study by the American Hotel and Lodging Association.<\/p>\n

Nearly 80% of operators in nine of the 11 host cities say reservations are running well behind projections, even though more than 5 million tickets have already been sold. Those empty rooms suggest that vulture-like scalpers have scooped up many of the seats.<\/a><\/p>\n

Whether Americans are pumped for the spectacle or not, they\u2019re still footing the bill.<\/p>\n

The feds have labeled every game\u00a0as\u00a0a \u2018national special security event\u2019 owing to heightened fears that terrorists or criminals could strike. <\/p>\n

More than $1 billion in federal taxpayer money has already been earmarked by FEMA to address potential threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Executives at the taxpayer-backed agency\u00a0that owns\u00a0Atlanta\u2019s Mercedes-Benz Stadium secretly blew\u00a0over $600,000 on VIP World Cup\u00a0seats \u2014 even as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20951],"tags":[94,479,28787,20759,3622,28788,2200,2803,28789,284],"class_list":["post-29431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mercedes-benz","tag-business","tag-donald-trump","tag-exclusive","tag-fifa","tag-mercedes-benz","tag-scalping","tag-tickets","tag-tourism","tag-us-soccer","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}